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Most wanted innovation for MBA

What's your most wanted innovation for next MBAs ?

  • Eye/Gesture tracker iSight (screen auto-dimm, air gesture, eye command, focus, games...)

    Votes: 2 1.1%

  • 3G/4G antenna/slot

    Votes: 57 32.8%

  • Wifi 802.11 abc standard

    Votes: 20 11.5%

  • Larger tactile and pen-friendly trackpad

    Votes: 3 1.7%

  • E-ink keyboard (with changing/custom key symbols)

    Votes: 7 4.0%

  • New, way lighter materials and body

    Votes: 31 17.8%

  • Auto connecting/disconnecting Magsafe magnet

    Votes: 2 1.1%

  • NFC/Micro-wireless chip to connect devices/cards/items (data, cut-copy, contacts, music etc...)

    Votes: 4 2.3%

  • Other (explain in comments)

    Votes: 48 27.6%
  • Total voters
    174
Vairamuthu said:
Wireless charging . This would make MBA a perfect mobile device.
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that would be cool. you mean like a powermat?

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ChristianJapan said:
Call me stubborn but I would prefer a version with an Apple on it ...just less trouble and sure that upgrades go easy through. A MBT (Mac Book Tablet) would be just too good
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i hear you. what i want, and what i have wanted all along, is a macbook with a touchscreen. the surface is still using what looks like to be a crappy OS btu i think it's a step in the right direction. i love that keyboard too!

maybe apple will take over and do it right ;)
 
3G antenna would be welcome, as a larger trackpad.
But what I would like to see the most is a microSD slot on the 11" (and an addition HDMI port).
 
If I could have a custom-ordered fantasy MacBook Air (constrained by the limits of today's technology, of course):

1. Better battery life. "Up to" 5 or 7 hours for the 11" or 13" MBA is no longer amazing. Windows ultraportables are eking out 7, 9, 11, even upwards of 16 hours of battery life. I would gladly accept an Air that was a fraction thicker in exchange for a few more hours of use.

2. Bigger SSD. 128 GB is too small.

I'd be perfectly happy to stop there, but as long as we're fantasizing, well, have a look at some of the Windows 8 convertibles that are coming out, like the Samsung ATIV Pro, Lenovo Thinkpad Helix, etc. A touchscreen, pen-input convertible MBA which becomes an OS X tablet when you detach the keyboard would be pretty cool.
 
blabliblu said:
Imagine a world where Steve Jobs would still be alive
Imagine a world where consumers were smart and fanboys didn't exist.

In short : Imagine a world where Apple was still innovating.

What would be the first thing or the top order of innovations you would like to see in a Macbook Air?

There's a poll of most current and wanted propositions but you can add yours.
Click to expand...

Innovate? They just need to catchup with other manufacturers. The screen for example is getting quite dated. It should be an IPS screen (no matter what resolution) to not drop to the bottom. retina IPS to be once more in the top

Plenty of 11" laptop now have 190pixels/inch very close to the 220 of the retina displays, so a FULL HD IPS screen would put them back at the top.
 
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As a new owner of a 11"(3 day old refurb 2012), retina screen and either smaller body or bigger screen. The thick border around the screen makes it look toy like and cheap.
 
Lots more battery!!!

To live to the PORTABILITY label battery is essential. I just want a MBA that is not portable to the next power socket! :D
 
As many others have posted I don't really want most of the features you suggested.

I just want much improved battery life. (think iPad like battery-life). Whenever this is technically possible I will upgrade.

I also wouldn't mind the computer getting lighter (as long as this doesn't impact performance or battery life). I say this only because what I would really like is a 13" MBA that was more similar in weight and size to the 11" MBA. But there is nothing wrong with the current size.

An option for 3G/4G connectivity would be nice for some but I would never pay extra for this. I'd rather just tether to my phone when I need to.

If I am thinking super crazy distant future ideal world I would like to have the MBA look exactly like it looks now but the screen be detachable so that it can be used as a tablet (of course in this ideal world there would be a touch optimized version of OSX that is by some miracle just as functional as OSX is now). That way I could have the convenience of doing consumption activities (such as reading pdfs) along with more productive activities without having to worry about syncing between different devices. But like I said this is a dream for the future maybe 10 years from now when the technology is there to do it right.
 
Saturn1217 said:
As many others have posted I don't really want most of the features you suggested.

I just want much improved battery life. (think iPad like battery-life). Whenever this is technically possible I will upgrade.

I also wouldn't mind the computer getting lighter (as long as this doesn't impact performance or battery life). I say this only because what I would really like is a 13" MBA that was more similar in weight and size to the 11" MBA. But there is nothing wrong with the current size.

An option for 3G/4G connectivity would be nice for some but I would never pay extra for this. I'd rather just tether to my phone when I need to.

If I am thinking super crazy distant future ideal world I would like to have the MBA look exactly like it looks now but the screen be detachable so that it can be used as a tablet (of course in this ideal world there would be a touch optimized version of OSX that is by some miracle just as functional as OSX is now). That way I could have the convenience of doing consumption activities (such as reading pdfs) along with more productive activities without having to worry about syncing between different devices. But like I said this is a dream for the future maybe 10 years from now when the technology is there to do it right.
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glad i'm not the only one.... i was accused of working for Apple when I pointed out that really the only thing i'd really like to see is longer battery life - especially on the 11"

that's why i don't care about retina, or being able to control it with eye gesture etc.
 
Most of my suggestions are to increase the practicality of the device.

On the 11" one, in order of preference:

1) keep the 1366x768 resolution but make it IPS LED with an anti-glare film (no glass or thick glossy plastic - this should also help with the weight).

2) intel haswell CPU/GPU combo

3) removable battery

4) two thunderbolt ports, not just the one. This is so when it is docked to a computer monitor with like a DisplayPort to HDMI/VGA/DVI adapter, thunderbolt can still be used.

5) 3G/4G modem + antenna built-in
 
Battery life, HDMI, better screen, new design, faster performance, price drop for the lower ends to compete with PC prices ($799-$899?) in order of importance IMO.
 
Other: A better keyboard. I don't like the feel of the keyboard on the Air.

And while going to the new WiFi standard would be good, I don't think it's that needed on an Air. And it will happen anyway.
 
voted other.... probably the most important to me is a better battery, but even a retina screen should be good....
 
These are moronic choices.


The only thing Apple should start developing right now is battery technology. Really step up development. Imagine a iPad with 20 hours of battery life, or a MacBook with 15!
 
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i hear you. what i want, and what i have wanted all along, is a macbook with a touchscreen. the surface is still using what looks like to be a crappy OS btu i think it's a step in the right direction. i love that keyboard too!

maybe apple will take over and do it right ;)
Click to expand...

apple tried the touchscreen vertically and it didn't work out.Jobs mentioned this few years back touch devices vertically will not workout. you can't work on that device a whole day.your arm will start feeling pain. think about typing in that way! and touch marks all over the screen.

Horizontal way will work out like our keyboard , trackpad , ipad etc..
 
Windows ultraportables are not going over well. However, there are a few standout Win ultraportables that have definitely caught up to the MBA. Take the Samsung and ACER - they are esthetically very close to the MBA and offer similar bang for the buck.

Apple will probably contend that they don't have to dramatically change what they are offering because the Win ultras can't offer one very important thing that Apple can... the Apple tax... no just kidding, it's the OS. Actually, I think if you compare the Win ultras pricewise to the MBA, they are not any cheaper and still have some deficiencies in terms of hardware.

With that being said, I think Apple still needs to raise the bar if for no other reason than the Apple community expects it. In other words, they have a reputation to live up to.

So how to they incrementally improve the MBA in such a way that the Mac community and those picky pundits will recognize Apple for living up to their reputation?

I think there needs to be both esthetic improvements as well as hardware improvements if they are going to honor their rep. On the esthetics side, the LCD seems to be the obvious area of improvement. Leo Laporte has remarked how his Acer Aspire S7 has a much better screen than his MBA. Samsung has a similar ultra with an improved LCD. This seems to be the obvious choice for Apple since they already understand the technology and how to implement it. Retina for MBA is a given!

Many would argue that the LCD is a hardware change, but I consider it an esthetic change because it doesn't really impact performance.

On the hardware side of things, I think they can do some modest things like the 768 gig SSD that is offered on the rMBP but if they want to turn some heads, I really think they need to turn the MBA into an all day laptop. A minimum of 8 hours battery life. So for the hardware side of things, I would do the following, which the Win competition doesn't seem to be able to do:

768 gig SSD option
16 gig RAM option
8 hour battery life

In terms of innovation, why not offer an external battery (think Hyper Juice) that could be purchased for a reasonable price and would provide additional power when you do not have access to AC power. Make it small and able to power the MBA for another 3-4 hours and I think they could sell a lot of these.

I've always wondered why no one has done this, but I could see this being a way to extend the battery for all their laptops without spending lots of R&D trying to squeeze more battery into smaller spaces. Just a thought!
 
Vairamuthu said:
apple tried the touchscreen vertically and it didn't work out.Jobs mentioned this few years back touch devices vertically will not workout. you can't work on that device a whole day.your arm will start feeling pain. think about typing in that way! and touch marks all over the screen.

Horizontal way will work out like our keyboard , trackpad , ipad etc..
Click to expand...

the first tablet computers folded back on themselves so that you could easily hold it vertically if you wished. the point being - you could use your notebook computer like a notebook if you wanted, or like a laptop computer.
 
jjfcpa said:
Windows ultraportables are not going over well. However, there are a few standout Win ultraportables that have definitely caught up to the MBA. Take the Samsung and ACER - they are esthetically very close to the MBA and offer similar bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

The way I see it, there are a few different classes of Windows 8 ultraportables.

The first is the "MacBook Air clone", like you mentioned, and some of them even come very close to replicating the look and feel of the Air.

Then there's the "MacBook Air but with a touch screen" concept. Self explanatory.

Another is the "convertible tablet", where manufacturers are trying to combine the best of both worlds in tablets and portable PCs. Even these can be further broken down into "tablets that can also be PCs" (like Surface Pro) or "PCs that can also be tablets" (like Dell XPS 12, Asus Taichi, Lenovo Yoga, Sony Vaio Duo). There is also a category of "take apart" PCs like the Lenovo Helix and Samsung ATIV series.

This class seems to still be struggling to find itself and different companies are experimenting with different concepts. Ultimately someone will win out and things will stabilize.
 
notjustjay said:
The way I see it, there are a few different classes of Windows 8 ultraportables.

The first is the "MacBook Air clone", like you mentioned, and some of them even come very close to replicating the look and feel of the Air.

Then there's the "MacBook Air but with a touch screen" concept. Self explanatory.

Another is the "convertible tablet", where manufacturers are trying to combine the best of both worlds in tablets and portable PCs. Even these can be further broken down into "tablets that can also be PCs" (like Surface Pro) or "PCs that can also be tablets" (like Dell XPS 12, Asus Taichi, Lenovo Yoga, Sony Vaio Duo). There is also a category of "take apart" PCs like the Lenovo Helix and Samsung ATIV series.

This class seems to still be struggling to find itself and different companies are experimenting with different concepts. Ultimately someone will win out and things will stabilize.
Click to expand...

Excellent point. The PC industry seems to be lost in a sea of options. That may be why PC sales are struggling - who can decide amid the myriad of choices.
 
I think the 4g slot is going to happen. For me it was a fantasy choice, some sort of NFC thing would just be cool.
 
Are we likely to see IGZO displays anytime soon? Or will this tech be sewn up by Samsung now they've bought a share in Sharp?

IGZO + Haswell would be my top choice, because that would mean a significantly longer battery life.

Next on the list for me would be an E-Ink keyboard, I can't see this happening for quite some time though. It would make switching to a Dvorak layout more feasible.

Dropping the Bezel for an iPad Mini type thinness would be amazing for the aesthetics.

I think RAM and HD increases are pretty much a given with time.
 
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